Scots law and legal practice

Archive for June, 2010

This is a written version of my talk to the Scottish Public Law Group annual conference on 7 June 20101. A note on vocabulary; I take the word ‘standing’ from English law to wrap up both title and interest to sue; and ‘locus standi’ is simply the Latin for standing.

Standing in Public Law Cases

It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that the Scottish law of title and interest to sue in public law matters is over-restrictive and in need of reform2. It seems to me, indeed, that this area of law is obsolete and unfit for purpose; that is simply a polite way of saying that it is in a mess. There is not universal agreement on this: the few who seem to think that our rules of standing are actually adequate seem for the most part to be members of the College of Justice. Yet it is that group who are responsible for the law being in the state it is in.

I wish to put, and answer, three questions as to this teenager’s-bedroom-like mess:

See, for some weighty examples of this view, the Dunpark Report in 1984; ‘Judicial Review in Scotland‘, Mullen and others, 1996, at page 52; ‘Mike Tyson Comes to Glasgow: a Question of Standing’, Lord Hope, 2001 Public Law 294; ‘Towards Good Administration: The Reform of Standing in Scots Public Law‘, Cram, 1995 Public Law 332; ‘Public Law in Scotland‘, Lord Clyde, 2008; ‘Civil justice: where next?‘, Lord Rodger, 2008. [back]